Embodiments herein generally relate to variable information printing and more particularly, concern a method that resolves inconsistencies between data and content area within a variable information template altering the data to fit within the template, according to previously established knowledge-based rules.
In variable information printing (VIP) applications, a document template may contain a content area of a defined size in which customized information is to be inserted. In the case of “one to one to one” VIP applications in which the target structure varies, there may be multiple templates for a campaign and, therefore, there may be target content areas of different size for the same source information. It may also be the case that the content source databases (or repositories) are augmented after the templates and content source mappings are defined. As a result of these situations, source content may overflow a target content area when a template instance is created for a given recipient.
Previous solutions to the content overflow problem include dynamic modification of a template (as shown in “Intelligent Content Fitting for Digital Publishing,” Xiaofan Lin, HP Imaging Systems Laboratory, “Active Layout Engine: Algorithms and Applications in Variable, Data Printing,” Xiaofan Lin, HP Digital Printing and Imaging Laboratory, and “Adaptive grid-based document layout,” Jacobs C, Li W, et al., University of Washington). Other approaches reduce the content size by cropping images (as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 7,151,547, the complete disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference), dynamically shrinking text in percentage increments (uDirect Standard Tutorial, XMPie, http://www.xmpie.com, available from XMPie Inc., New York, N.Y., USA, or modifying content properties, such as font (described in U.S. Patent Publication No. 2006/0156232, the complete disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference).
Embodiments herein include a method that uses or establishes knowledge-based rules for processing variable information print jobs. The method receives a variable information print job, for a user, that comprises a reference to personalized content and a reference to at least one variable information template. Then, the method determines if any of the personalized content exceeds the size of a corresponding content area of the template.
If the personalized content exceeds the size of a corresponding content area of the template, the method resolves such size inconsistencies (between the personalized content and the content area) by selectively removing portions of the personalized content according to the knowledge-based rules. This dynamically reformulates the personalized content into a personalized content subset. Stated differently, the method resolves the size inconsistencies between the personalized content and the content area by altering the personalized content according to previously established user preferences. The method can then print (output) the variable information print job using the personalized content subset.
The user preferences can be established by the user or a third party who characterizes the user. For example, the variable information job could be prepared and printed by a vendor target marketing the user, where the vendor would establish the user preferences.
If the personalized content is componentized in a repository, the method performs a knowledge-based retrieval of less than all of the personalized content when resolving such inconsistencies. Similarly, if the personalized content is maintained in a database, the method performs knowledge-based filtering of the personalized content to retrieve less than all of the personalized content to resolve the inconsistencies. Thus, with embodiments herein, the resolving of the size inconsistencies is performed such that the personalized content subset maintains only the most relevant portions of the personalized content, as determined by relevancy standards within the predetermined knowledge-based rules.
These and other features are described in, or are apparent from, the following detailed description.